4 Reasons Your Story Matters

Lightening streaked the sky. Thunder clapped. Violent winds whipped and tossed the limbs of the huge oak tree as I stood beneath it. I defiantly “stepped over the line” into our neighbor’s yard…a line I was told repeatedly never to cross. I was six years old. Why did I do it?

Even as a child of six, I knew God’s power was demonstrated in the storm. And I hoped He would choose to come down Himself and punish me. I desperately wanted to see this God I had heard about all my life. I wanted to meet Him. I wanted to touch Him. I wanted to know Him. Somehow I knew that He alone held some key to life’s meaning. I’ll never forget that even the fear of punishment did not discourage me. I figured it was worth it to see God.

That experience was the first I remember of wanting to touch, hear, feel, see and know God. God tells us that if we seek Him with all our heart, He will be found by us.  I didn’t meet God that day but it was the first memory I have of our story together and my hunger for a relationship with Him. 

In his book, “Building a Story Brand,” New York Times bestselling author Donald Miller explains that Maslow’s “hierarchy of needs” we learned about in high school still proves accurate. He describes four human needs the brain constantly searches to meet. They are the ability to:

1. Survive Physically – which today means having a job and a dependable income so we eat.
2. Find Safety– which includes having a roof over our heads and a sense of well-being and power that keeps us from being vulnerable.
3. Secure Relationships-which includes anything from a romantic encounter to friendship and building community in case of social threats.
4. Discover a Sense of Meaning– including greater psychological, physiological and spiritual needs.

Are you aware of the fact that your life story addresses every one of these needs and captures the attention of anyone you speak with.

What were your thoughts as you read my story in the opening paragraphs? Only after writing this true story did I realize it addresses each element of our need as humans. In this story you may wonder:

1. If I will ultimately survive a brutal storm.
2. Find safety in this situation.
3. Discover the relationship with God I so desire.
4. Find life’s meaning found in God alone

What element of your life story addresses these most basic of human needs? How can you share it in a way that helps others find answers and hope in the midst of life’s difficulties? God wants to use your story to reach this world with the message of His love.

Jesus demonstrated God’s method for reaching those around him. We read in Matthew 13 when speaking of Jesus, “He told many stories in the form of parables…” Jesus took the common things of life, accessible and understood by all, and shared the secrets of His Kingdom and the life He offers each of us when we believe in Him.

So how can you share your story today? Reach the world, one story at a time.